Greg Glassman, the embattled CrossFit founder and CEO, has resigned after it was reported he told CrossFit gym owners “We’re not mourning for George Floyd.” The comments were first reported by Buzzfeed days after Glassman tweeted a racially insensitive comment that poked fun at the death of George Floyd.
“I’m stepping down as CEO of CrossFit, Inc., and I have decided to retire,” Glassman said in a statement on CrossFit’s website. “On Saturday I created a rift in the CrossFit community and unintentionally hurt many of its members.”
Dave Castro, CrossFit’s co-director of training, is now the CEO of the fitness brand. “CrossFit is a community — one that is global, diverse, and tough,” Castro said in a statement. “Every person in our community shares a common bond.”
According to Buzzfeed, Glassman was on a private Zoom call with gym owners when he told a Minneapolis CrossFitter, who asked him why the company had not issued a statement on the protests following Floyd’s death, “Can you tell me why I should mourn for him? Other than that it’s the white thing to do — other than that, give me another reason.”
Floyd was a Black man who died at the hands of a White Minneapolis police officer, who has since been charged with second-degree murder. His death on May 25 inspired weeks of protests and demonstrations across the country and internationally calling for justice and protesting police brutality against Black people.
The 75-minute Zoom call, leaked to Buzzfeed, was to address the closure of gyms due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The website reported that the call was held hours before Glassman tweeted “It’s FLOYD-19” in response to a post about the health issues associated with racism.
Reebok, the title sponsor of the CrossFit games, announced it would end its sponsorship hours after the tweet was posted and several gyms that pay licensing fees to use the CrossFit name severed ties with the group as well.
Glassman would say the tweet was “not racist but a mistake.”
Buzzfeed reported that Glassman, on the Zoom call, questioned whether systemic racism exists and questioned why people were protesting. “I don’t think that there’s a general mourning for Floyd in any community,” he reportedly said.
He also said, “I just don’t get the burning thing. How about the Black cop that was killed?”
Without providing evidence, Glassman also repeated several conspiracy theories about Floyd and his death.
